Westfest 2014, Westboro, Ottawa, Ontario

Westfest 2014, Westboro, Ottawa, Ontario – Today was the first of three days of Westfest entertainment in the Westboro area of Ottawa. (Official Westfest festival site: http://www.westfest.ca/) All of the Mainstage performances are FREE! thanks to the generous sponsorship support that the event receives.

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Tonight, I was able to enjoy the performance of George Leach  whose album “Surrender” won the 2014 Juno Award for Aboriginal Album of the Year sponsored by APTN. (George Leach offic1al site)

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I do enjoy photographing performers doing things other than playing music

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Two more days of entertainment. Click on schedule image to enlarge.

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Bled, Slovenia

Bled, Slovenia

The town of Bled is located in northwestern Slovenia (location). It borders the glacial lake known as Lake Bled in the Julian Alps. The lake has one island, Bled Island and the main building on the island is the pilgrimage church dedicated to the Assumption of Mary.  It is a 17th century church with parts dating earlier than that.

The town of Bled and the adjoining lake are very popular places for tourists to visit in this part of  the world and, like many tourists, we enjoyed a walk around the lake with its many flower beds and assorted collection of wildlife.

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Ivanhoe Lake Provincial Park, Foleyet, Ontario

Ivanhoe Lake Provincial Park, Foleyet, Ontario

Well, we made it from Ottawa to Ivanhoe Lake Provincial Park without incident. Leaving Ottawa before sunrise made for a pretty early wake-up call but would also allow us time to stop a long the way more often and also allowed us time to get the tents set up before dark. The new lake side boardwalk and docking area in Temagami was nice to see and as good as any a reason to stop and stretch our legs. After a short leg-stretch stop, we were on our way again soon to reach Timmins in time for a short lunch break.

 

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Quite a bit of road construction along the way but, for the most part, the skies were blue and the winds were light – no fog, no rain, no snow! Along the way we saw moose at two different locations along the highway and black bears at two other locations. When I see moose and bear grazing along the ditches in broad daylight I usually assume that the bugs are plentiful in the woods. Such was the case. When we stopped at the campsite to set up our tents, the mosquitoes and black flies were quick to find our bare skin – out came the DEET before we went for a short walk along the shoreline. The Bonaparte’s Gulls were along the shoreline again and park staff indicated that they had seen some birds picking up sticks along the roadway so that it would appear that these gulls are in fact breeding in the area. Other wildlife spotted during our short walk included Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies, Red Squirrels, Cedar Waxwings, a Yellow-Rumped Warbler (a.k.a. Myrtle Warbler), many fast flying Dragonflies and a small blue butterfly.

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Since it was Friday night, the restaurant at Ivanhoe Air was open, so, with tents set up, it was off for supper before getting into the sleeping bags for a few winks before the 4AM alarm would go off.

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Trencin, Slovakia

Trencin, Slovakia

Today, we were on our way to Budapest in Hungary via Slovakia. Soon after entering Slovakia, we did a quick pit stop so that some of our bus tour folks could get a few more Euros. I took the opportunity to pick up some German water. Trencin is a picturesque ‘Eastern Europe’ village with most of the buildings appearing to be from the communist era. Slovakia, a land-locked country that has, over the years, been a part of many different jurisdictions including being once a part of the Kingdom of Moldavia and most recently part of Czechoslovakia is now an independent country. Slovakia became a member of the European Union in 2004 and adopted the Euro as its currency in 2009.

Then, came the tank ride, a 15 minute wet, muddy and exciting roller coaster-like ride in a tracked vehicle. We had arrived at Podbiel, Slovakia where entrepreneur, Jozef Krupa, promises tourists the ride of their life. From the pictures and video which I will be uploading later, you can clearly see that nobody went back to the Busabout Coach dry or unhappy. Definitely a must-stop tourist attraction for any tourist who would like a bit of an adrenaline rush!

(Graeme on tour in Europe. Images will be upload to this blog when time and consistent internet access permits.)

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Olomouc, Czech Republic

Olomouc, Czech Republic

We were now on tour with the Busabout tour company and we were stopping for the night in the sixth largest Czech city (a bit less than 100,000). It is located in the lowland of the Haná region and was, in the past, the capital of then Moravia. An architecturally attractive city with good mix of ancient, older and newer architectural styles to keep photographers busy. We would be spending the night at the Flora Hotel. It’s a nice hotel with comfy beds and windows that open. The rooms were a bit warm so we kept the window open for the night.

In the morning breakfast ended up being quite an adventure. We went to the wrong breakfast room. We were supposed to go to a nicer restaurant but, instead, some of us went to the more basic breakfast room where we watched in shock as the a group of tourists ahead of us literally attacked the food tables. Fortunately, our guide came and rescued us and we found our way to the much nicer restaurant and the rest of our group where we were able to have a nice breakfast in a more civilized fashion.

Bone Church, Kutná Hora
Now on the tour bus, we stopped at a church which became a very popular place to be buried after a 13th century monk returned form the Holy Land with some soil which he sprinkled over the existing graveyard.The graveyard became the popular place for aristocracy to be buried, so much so that there was a significant overcrowding issue and to help with the overcrowding issue bones were exhumed and stored below the church. Eventually, the city council hired a local craftsman,FrantiÅ¡ek Rint, to go in and put the bones into more order. What he ended up doing was create works if art using the bones. An interesting place to visit – rather unique. (photos to follow).

(Graeme on tour in Europe. Images will be uploaded when time and access to reliable internet permit)

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Zakopane, Poland

Zakopane, Poland

Zakopane is a small Polish town located about two and a half hours from Krakow, Poland. At approximately 1000 meters (3000 feet) above sea level, it shares many similarities with Banff, Alberta and draws tourists from many regions to enjoy sports such as skiing in the winter and hiking and mountaineering in all seasons. Historically, Zakopane began as a mining town and was the center of metallurgical activity in the area during the 1800’s. Nestled in a valley at the base of the Tatra Mountains, the town has played host to many international alpine events including the World Alpine and Nordic Ski Championships in 1939. They lost out to Turin, Italy in their bid to host the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Our hotel was located across from the water park and a nice 10 minute walk from the city center. Weather did not play in our favor returning to rain and ~10 degrees Celsius. Most of our tour group decided to stay near town exploring Zakopane’s famous Krupowki Street with its many restaurants and shops or taking the Funicular ride to the top of Gubalowkwa Hill to get a great view of Zakopane and the surrounding valley and Tatra Mountains. The “funicular” is like a tramway or gondola on wheels and follows rails up the side of the hill. Unlike a gondola ride, the funicular never leaves the ground as it progresses up the hill.

I decided to go for a trek through the mountains and headed south of Zakopane to a national park (5 zloties) where I hiked 14 kilometers (and about 800m vertical) in an attempt to visit Morskie Oko Lake (Marine Eye Lake) mentioned in the regional chat as a most beautiful lake surrounded by mountain peaks that rose a 1000 meters or above the water. However, my hike ended up taking me in the direction of the wrong lake, Czarny Straw Gasienicowy, which is higher in elevation and more difficult to reach. It is a glacial lake with sapphire-like clear, deep water often referred to in English as the Black Pond. The yellow route, which I took, began as a gradual walk but then rather suddenly headed up a rock staircase which took me about 30 minutes to climb. This is a very popular hike for those visiting the region and I wasn’t the faster climber on the trail so was passed by many hikers of various nationalities and exchanged “hi there” and “hello” greetings in a multitude of languages along the way. I began to worry that I had not budgeted enough time to actual reach the lake and in the end, as I reached a twin peak section, the weather turned colder, windier, and the path muddied after the vertical climb so I decided to turn around and head back down to Zakopane without reaching the lake. Lots of great scenery to see along the way, but the lake will need to be seen some other time, not this trip.

(Graeme on tour in Europe. Images will be uploaded when time and available internet access permit)

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Hostel Deco – Krakow

Hostel Deco – Krakow

The Hostel Deco is about a 15 minute walk from the city center. The decor in this hostel is quite interesting as each room has its own unique, special art deco theme and the walls in the hotel are very interesting.There is no elevator in this hostel and it does require a 10 zelote deposit on towels but WiFi is free and the reception area is open 24/7. A nice garden area provides a quiet spot for reflection or meeting with other travelers when the weather cooperates.

In the basement, there is a nice small bar which doubles as the breakfast room. Breakfast is served until 11AM or even noon (I think) if pre-arranged, so that would be a nice feature if you are not inclined to be up really early. We are in tour mode, so had breakfast and were out touring again long before noon.

Since this hostel was a two night location on this tour, we were able to get 24 hr laundry service. Great to get some clean clothes although some noted that clothes were still a bit damp, not overly so, but not immediate pick-up and wear.

I’m beginning to think that all beds in our accommodation use the same wooden base but ultra comfy mattress and pillows.

(Graeme on tour in Europe – photos to be added when good internet time available – not much time between touring and sleeping :-))

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Breeding Bird Survey 2014

Last minute packing is underway as I prepare to join Gerhard Bruins once again for our foray into the northwoods of Ontario.  I’ve joined Gerhard for a number of Breeding Bird Surveys, Christmas Bird Counts, and other birding activities.  He carries the binoculars while I carry the camera (s). During any given outing, he might view 30 – 100 species while I am happy to get decent photos of 5 – 10% of total sightings.

RON_3465-Magnolia-Warbler While he is counting and recording numbers, I provide some of the location information, GPS info, descriptive prose and maybe work in time for a photo of a passing butterfly or moth or bear or moose or … and then off we go to our next scheduled stop.

Our normal BBS day starts at about 4AM with the expectation that we’ll be back near civilization around noon.  Then, it’s back to the campground to pack tents and head to the next campground location (if available) or motel nearest to the start of the next day’s route. Rarely in tent or bed before 10PM or 11PM, it makes for a pretty long day!

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To see the blog entries for some of our previous birding outings start here: Birding Surveys.

Most of our BBS routes are outside of normal telecommunications tower coverage and I can’t get WiFi in most tenting locations so blog entries for our 2014 Breeding Bird Survey blogs will be entered later in June or ….

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Krakow, Poland

Krakow, Poland

Finally a warm day we heading out in t-shirts and shorts. Today is our free day and I elected to take both excursions, the City Bike Ride and later in the afternoon a tour of the Salt Mines.

We walked from Hostel Deco to the center square where we picked up our bikes. They had several versions of bikes, and I picked one with a basket in the back to hold my backpack. Overall, the bikes were in excellent condition with only one bike on our tour getting a flat in the first few minutes. The flat tire was quickly resolved as we were circling the city center and then we were on our way.

The bike pace was good and anyone who can ride a bike would be able to keep up to the group. The tires where quite wide to handle the cobblestones. There were no shocks but each bike had padded seats to varying degrees. The bikes had a single 7-speed shifter for hills and were definitely a lighter frame that what I had used in a similar Holland tour a few bike years earlier.

We stopped by the north gate which is all that is left of the multiple layers of city walls. The ancient walls had been demolished long ago to feed the expanding city need for housing material and reduce disease.

We then biked to the University District, and our guide told us about how the university came to being and how, during WWII, Nazi tricked most of the intellectuals to a conference where they were then rounded up and sent to a concentration camp. A great deal of WWII history in this part of the world and much of it can be quite gloomy. The tour was not all doom and gloom though. We stopped far a while to look at a clock which, on the hour, played music and had a little visual display.

Next we headed to the castle, where we saw the Wawel Dragon Statue. The Wawal Dragon has an important role Polish mythology. As our guide explained, there are many stories about the fire-breathing dragon. In one instance, the guide explained the legend where a peasant tricked the dragon into eating sulphur and he exploded! By killing the dragon the peasant gained the hand of the princess in marriage. The statue breathes fires, but, as our guide explained it, the fire was only visible at random intervals. Just before we left, it did let out a puff!

We stopped for a half hour halfway through the tour for food/bathroom break at the edge of the river. and next we headed to the Jewish Ghetto where, during WWII, Jewish people lived after being kicked out of their houses. At the Ghetto food was scarce and heavily rationed, worse still SS men would perform selections and send Jews to concentration camps where then where ultimately worked, starved, or gassed to death. Not many happy stories at this location.

Our final major stop was at the entrance to Schindler factory. It was in this factory that Oskar Schindler was able to protect some 1100 Jewish workers by giving them continued employment in the factory and using bribes and political connections and influence to keep them in his employ and out of the concentration camps. Oskar Schindler’s WWII activities were eventually chronicled in the movie “Schindler’s List”.

Bike ride back was fun but it soon became clear that on a Sunday at lunch the city center soon became packed with foot traffic.

(Graeme on tour in Europe. Images will be added when time and reliable internet access permits)

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Pearson Airport – Two-way zip ties

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With the addition of locks on your bags, one habit I have with less important pockets (clothes, etc) are two-way zip ties. Easy to apply/remove (although some brands are better than others on ease if removal – my personal favorite are from Sinorefor Products Inc) they allow for travels to ensure your straps or pull cords aren’t accidentally opened when you snag on a corner; or nefarious elements. They are also inexpensive and don’t take up much room, unlike locks which can get bulky.

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